The internet and information security is not a new topic, but it's a great time to review your security settings. It usually takes a catastrophic event to cause people to take it more seriously. The alleged Instagram hacks that have been reported are a great wake up call.
There are often things that are helpful to workflow, no matter how minor they are. One of my favorite customizations to a new install of Photoshop is the cursor customization. When watching a tutorial and I see the instructor clicking through a menu instead of using a shortcut key for something as simple as duplicating a layer, I can understand the reason why. When demonstrating to people, it's valuable to slow things down and make sure they understand. It may seem subjective to flat out say that changing the cursors is the best thing to do, however I believe that once you try it you will agree.
As I wrote in my previous article, 3DLUT Creator is a magnificent piece of software for color grading, and it has become an essential part of my coloring processes both for video and still work. There are now more buying options for those who don't need all the extra features that some might. Meet the Grading Edition.
There are many things that go into the final mood of an image. My intention was to have a California-like warm sun with a heading-to-the-beach kind of feel for this car photo. The challenge was that I had to shoot it in the high desert. We have pine trees and some lakes, but the ocean is far away. So we found a windy road heading down to one of the small lakes and planned out our session.
Everyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with style and character of bokeh. I've had countless hours of discussion with friends in the industry regarding minute differences in the "look" of a certain lens. Today I want to share the most unique and comprehensive array of totally unique looks I've found.
As I am constantly saying, I am a huge fan of workflow optimization. I work alone and automating even the simplest of tasks is crucial to staying organized and being able to keep up doing what I do. This tip is the first in a series regarding automation I will share, and this is such a key to thinking differently: creating your clients folders. It's something we do every session, over and over, so let's automate it.
As I wrote in a previous article, using Flash for your photography website is a very bad idea with some very negative consequences. Now Adobe is announcing end of life for Flash.
One of the many reasons I love this great color grading tool (as I've already written about) is that the creator, Oleg, is very good at listening to requests and creating or adding new features, while fixing minor bugs along the way in a much more responsive manner than what I've seen from the big companies. I'm happy to see the new 1.42 update released today.
Bowens has been reported as being into liquidation and will cease all operations. It seems as time goes on, technology gets better. This is normally a good thing for innovation and the end user. But if often leads to the end of things as we know it.
It should be that it goes without saying not to be a creepy photographer. Sadly, there are creeps out there and our profession is a "good fit" for a pervert trying to look at young women. That being said, we need to be extra careful to make sure we maintain our good reputation.
Glasses can be a real pain when shooting portraits. Perhaps the subject's glasses don't have the anti-glare coating or even if they do, sometimes your light source can still wreak havoc with reflections. Today I want to share a quick tip on dealing with this issue. Sometimes the reflections can be so bad, they cover a huge part of the actual eye. If it's a tiny spot in the corner of the glasses, we can easily clone it out but if it's covering half the eye that won't work so easily.
Colorists and video production folks are already familiar with LUTs (Lookup Table) and likely already use them for color grading videos. This is the next level for working with LUTs.
This is a how I did it story. Along with some “why.” Unlike most all folks my age, I am very fond of the WW2 history and even more so WW2 aircraft. My favorite plane of all time is the B-25 mid-range bomber. This concept has been in my mind for years, and I waited to actually implement it until I felt I was able to do it right. Had I done it early in my career, I feel the quality wouldn't have been up to the standard I would have liked.
Being lazy is one of my favorite traits, so walking needs to be avoided at all costs. I'm kidding... well, not really. This wireless remote for my camera has saved me quite literally thousands of steps in my light painting processes.
It’s not a secret how much I feel the Mac OS is powerful, and most often underused. Apple makes great products, but in my opinion they don't do a great job informing everyone of the really nice and polished little features, so unless you know, you may think it's just another basic OS. Today I want to talk about another of my favorite and useful tips for photographers, and that’s “tags” within Finder.
When I first started out, I always used to see color that I wanted to replicate. It seemed there was some magic preset or tool that helped. There isn’t and really what it boils down to, is first really “seeing” the color. What is it about a certain look you like? To help with this I have always been a fan of side-by-side comparisons, both for photo and video.
At what point do we say something is too far? My opinion is that using photography as a medium to gain fame, be it good or bad, isn’t a new thing. But as time goes on, seemingly, these things are lacking in taste more and more.
Today's quick tip is in regard to efficiency. Anyone who has ever talked to me knows that I am 100 percent a Mac user. I feel they are by far the best for photographers. Before getting into a Mac versus Windows argument, it is not so much in regard to the hardware as it is the operating system and the level of efficiency that a Linux-type operating system allows.
Based on Instagram being so important and popular for photographers at this particular time, and as a follow up on some Instagram tips I wrote about before, we constantly look for ways to stand out and be different or better.
Today I want to share a quick tip on cleaning up lint, dust, cat hair, and things like that from clothing or other areas of your photo. I'm super picky, and even if the image is a 5x7 and the dust may not even show up on the print, I like to fix things like that on my large files anyway. You never know when the customer may come back later and order a wall portrait from that file they only previously purchased a 5x7 from, and I don't want to have to go back in and re-retouch the image.
